After receiving the commission, Hailstork visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for inspiration, and decided to focus on the effect of the Movement on the hopes and dreams of children. He based the text for the work on lines from poems written by three area schoolchildren. Porchea Mullen of Hudson K-8 School contributed "There's a dream in every child. In every hue there's a smile. Music is the language of life." Dasia Bonner, also from Hudson, wrote: "Why hate? Why fight? Why judge us by the color of our skin?", and Apoorva Nagaraj of Berry Middle School penned: "In the cry of my soul, in the beat of my heart, the sound of music flowing through me."